Search age:

Search in:

Tomic should take tennis break: Rasheed

Ed Jackson

Former Australian Davis Cup coach Roger Rasheed says Bernard Tomic needs to step away from tennis to settle his off-court issues following another run-in with police on the Gold Coast.

Tomic was reportedly involved in an altercation with a friend during his 20th birthday celebrations with police called to a disturbance at a Surfers Paradise apartment tower in the early hours of Monday morning.

The incident comes just a week before Tomic is set to face court to challenge traffic charges stemming from an Australia Day incident where he is alleged to have driven his high-powered V8 BMW M3 in breach of special licence conditions.

Tomic is also accused of failing to stop for police and not keeping to the left of double dividing lines on the road.

Advertisement

The talented Australian has endured a tough year on the court as well, his world ranking sliding from 28 to 49 and having to deny accusations of tanking during his US Open loss to Andy Roddick in September.

Rasheed, who used to coach Lleyton Hewitt and is currently mentoring France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, said Tomic needs to get his life in order and should stay away from tennis until that happens.

"I think there's a lot of work to do off the court," Rasheed told Sky Sports Radio on Tuesday.

"I wouldn't hit another ball if I was Bernard Tomic. I would just sort everything out, see where I'm at. (Even) if it took him three months now, six months or whatever it took him.

"You need to sort out the basics and the platform otherwise it'll raise it's ugly head again. It's unfortunate."

Rasheed also believes Tomic's entourage has a lot to answer for and while his father John has done an admirable job to get his son into the world top 50, it's time for the pair to rethink their relationship.

He says appointing a widely regarded coach as well as sorting out what motivates Tomic to play tennis will be a key to revitalising the youngster's career.

"To be honest, I think he's rebelling against the whole system," Rasheed said.

"He's talented but he's not Lleyton, he's not Rafa (Nadal) and he's not Novak (Djokovic), he's not those guys. You see what those guys were doing at the same age, they were in a different ball game, a different class.

"I'm not sure if he's got the people in front of him to be able to position him in the right place right now. Which is unfortunate.

"His father's aware of it but he needs a coach, there's no doubt about it. His father's done a great job to get him to position A but position A is not where it's at now for him.

"If he wants to keep excelling he gets a legitimate coach and decides what he wants out of the game."